The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has completed an improvement project for its Life Skills Training Program, whose students are orphans and vulnerable children living in Kabwe, a large district in central Zambia. Improvements included finishing a carpentry workshop and establishing increased employment opportunities for the program’s graduates.

Using funds received from ADRA International, the ADRA office in Zambia completed construction of the facility’s carpentry workshop, covering beams, plastering walls, and installing flooring. Carpentry students enrolled in the Life Skills Training Program helped build doors and window frames for the workshop.

ADRA also initiated the process of establishing cooperatives to create self-employment opportunities for graduates. The cooperatives will allow graduates to attract more clients than if they worked individually, explained Scott Tembo, monitoring and evaluation officer for the ADRA office in Zambia. ADRA Zambia is working in partnership with the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to set up the cooperatives.

The training program is based at the Kabwe Family Health Institute and recruits students from four regions of Kabwe district. Ranging in age from 12 to 18 years, most of the students are HIV and AIDS orphans.

As part of the improvement project, 42 students visited two factories and a similar training institution in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. On the spring 2006 tour, students learned about a variety of career options, such as carpentry, roofing, flower arrangement, and weaving.

“The tour . . . was meant to motivate the students,” said John Kunda, programs director for ADRA Zambia. “It was hoped the trainees would be encouraged to complete their training and look forward to working on their own if the industry did not absorb them,” he continued. “We believe these objectives have been met.”

ADRA first opened its office in Zambia in 1986, and is currently active in the country’s eastern, central, southern, and northern regions. ADRA Zambia works in the key areas of Food Security, Disaster Relief, Health Care, Water and Sanitation, and Community Development. Since its inception, ADRA Zambia has benefited more than 7 million people.